Monday, October 5, 2009

Washington, DC (LifeNews.com) -- Members of the House of Representatives are working on a second phony compromise that would try to mitigate some of the concerns pro-life lawmakers and groups have about the abortion funding found in HR 3200, the main health care "reform" bill in the House.

The current bill contains the Capps Amendment that abortion advocates have been portraying as a compromise that prohibits abortion funding.

But pro-life groups and leading pro-life lawmakers such as Democratic Rep. Bart Stupak of Michigan have exposed the Capps language as a fraud by noting that it allows massive abortion subsidies and mandates.

Knowing Stupak has assembled potentially enough pro-life and moderate Democrats to join Republicans in voting down the rules for debate on the bill or the bill itself if House Speaker Nancy Pelosi doesn't allow a debate on his amendment to yank the abortion funding, pro-abortion lawmakers are hoping to pacify him and his coalition.

Now, pro-abortion Rep. Henry Waxman, the chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee, is trying to work out a compromise with some of the members of Stupak's coalition who are not as strongly pro-life.

The goal appears to be to "strengthen" the Capps Amendment in a way that would siphon off votes from Stupak's coalition but to do so in a way that doesn't actually amount to a complete stoppage of the abortion funding Stupak and pro-life advocates desire.

Rep. Diana DeGette, a Colorado Democrat who is one of the pro-abortion leaders in the House admitted to the Denver Post today that the goal is to peel off enough members of Stupak's coalition to get a winning vote on the rule and the bill and allow massive abortion funding at the same time.

Douglas Johnson, the legislative director of National Right to Life, tells LifeNews.com that pro-life lawmakers and advocates need to see through this phony compromise.

"Pelosi and Waxman are working on cosmetic changes to the Capps Amendment, which they will then try to peddle as an even-more-generous 'compromise' by the pro-abortion side (but which in reality will put the federal government into the elective abortion business in both the public plan and the premium subsidy program)," he said.

Johnson is concerned that some familiar faces from the Stupak coalition will emerge in support of the fake compromise -- including Rep. Tim Ryan, an Ohio Democrat who was formerly pro-life but now has a consistent pro-abortion voting record. The mainstream media portrays Ryan as pro-life even though he hasn't voted that way in a couple of years.

"In any such new twist on the Waxman-Capps scam, we can expect that a prominent role will be assigned to [Ryan], who actually does the bidding of Planned Parenthood .. and Nancy Pelosi," Johnson said.

Even if the House members adopt the new Waxman language, Johnson says that doesn't alleviate the concern of abortion funding found in the public option.

He says the government option "problem is very important and separate and distinct from the premium-subsidy problem."

The independent FactCheck.org web site has verified pro-life analysis that the public plan will pay for abortions "so long as the plans took in enough private money in the form of premiums paid by individuals or their employers. The Capps language also would allow private plans purchased with federal subsidies 'affordability credits' for low-income families and workers to cover abortion."

FactCheck indicates that both private and public insurance plans would include abortion funding under the legislation pending in Congress.

"Low- and moderate-income persons who would choose the 'public plan' would qualify for federal subsidies to purchase it. Private plans that cover abortion also could be purchased with the help of federal subsidies," the web site says. "As for the House bill as it stands now, it’s a matter of fact that it would allow both a 'public plan' and newly subsidized private plans to cover all abortions."

ACTION: 1) Go to http://www.Senate.gov and contact your two senators to urge them to support any amendments to stop abortion funding. 2) Contact members of the House Rules Committee (see http://rules.house.gov) and urge them to allow a vote on the Stupak amendment to stop abortion funding.